Monetary instruments issued by governments such as money or currency are used throughout the world today. Government-issued currency typically includes banknotes (also known as paper currency or bills) having visible markings printed on high-quality paper, plastic, or paper impregnated with other materials, such as plastic. The visible markings indicate the denomination (value) of the banknote and include a serial number, decorations such as images, and anti-counterfeiting structures such as special threads, ribbons, and holograms. Currency circulates within an economic system as a medium of monetary exchange having a fixed value until it is physically worn out. Worn out banknotes are generally returned by banks or other financial institutions and then replaced.
Other privately issued monetary instruments, such as credit cards and gift cards, are also used by the public. These cards typically include an electronically accessible value (e.g., stored in a magnetic stripe or in a chip in the card) or an electronically accessible account that can be used to make purchases. However, the electronically stored value of the card is not readily viewed by a user.
In the past, banknotes have not been electronically enabled. However, more recently there have been proposals to use RFID (radio-frequency identification device) in banknotes to validate the banknote and avoid counterfeiting. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,391,688 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,791,822 disclose systems for currency validation. U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,969 describes a capacitance-based verification device for a security thread embedded within currency paper to defeat counterfeiting. Security systems for scanning a paper banknote and checking identification information in the banknote (e.g., the serial number) with a network-accessible database have been proposed, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 6,131,718.
Near-field-communications (NFC) systems also provide an electronic response to electromagnetic stimulation for enabling financial transactions by employing a set of electromagnetic communication protocols that enable two electronic devices, one of which is usually a portable device such as a smartphone, to communicate by bringing them within 4 cm of each other. These devices use electromagnetic induction between two loop antennae to communicate and transmit power, for example as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,688,270. Thus, at least one of the devices can operate without a stored energy device such as a battery. In all of these systems, however, there is no way to visibly and electronically test attributes of a banknote.
There remains a need, therefore, for currency with visible indicia that is electronically accessible.